The Fifth Company Baptist School has ceased its normal operations and Minister of State in the Ministry of Education Dr Lovell Francis says the school’s officials were not granted permission to do so.

The school which is located at Indian Walk, Moruga, has not been operating at full capacity since last Wednesday, with some teachers reporting to work, while others are not officially teaching students.In a Facebook post, Dr Francis confirmed that the school had infrastructural problems but maintained that the current handling of the situation was not legal.

“Please note that while the Fifth Company Baptist School has some infrastructural concerns it has ceased normal operations without any clear legal qualification for doing so. This can only legally be done when there is written censure provided by one of the institutions with the authority to do so.”

The Minister of State in the Ministry of Education also sought to alleviate concerns about the resumption of school. He says the Ministry will work alongside the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association, to find a resolution to the problem.”

“At this point the Ministry is awaiting a report from the Electrical Inspectorate and will move swiftly to attempt to rectify the school’s infrastructural concerns. However please be assured that the Ministry will investigate the matter of the school’s current non operation in conjunction with TTUTA and the appropriate procedures will be put into effect.”